Today is our annual general meeting of the FOPL membership. The treat we’re handing out is the collected analyses of Ontario Public Library performance from 2001-2010. If you can’t make it to the AGM, have no fear, here’s the PDF all ready for printing. FOPL_Annual_General_Stats 70 page PDF ...

FREE Webinar Available: Library Day in Your Community! Have you considered meeting locally with your MPP to discuss the value of libraries? Don’t miss the complimentary webinar: Grassroots Advocacy 101 with Huw Williams of Impact Public Affairs now archived on the OLA site! If you do connect in with your local MPP, please let us know how your meeting went. Email Stephen Abram at sabram@fopl.ca or Shelagh Paterson, at OLA spaterson@accessola.com. ...

Notice of Annual General Meeting Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries will take place Wednesday, January 28th 2015 Time 5:45- 6:45 pm Metro Toronto Convention Centre – North Building – ICTC Ballroom Registration opens: 5:20 pm 2015 FOPL AGM AGENDA (tentative) The order of business will include Receipt of the Report of the FOPL Chair Receipt of the Report of the FOPL Executive Director Receipt of Treasurer’s Report, 2014 Financial Statements and Auditor’s Report Approval of Auditors for the Year ending October 31, 2014 Receipt of Reports of Task Forces and Special Committees CELUPL Research Task Force Marketing Task Force Advocacy Task Force Nominations and Elections to the Board for 2015 Minutes of 2014 AGM Other Business Adjournment Vacancies: 2015 will see a number of vacant positions on the FOPL Board up for election: Francophone 1 CEO 1 Trustee Large Urban 1 Trustee Northern 1 Trustee Rural 1 Trustee Small & Medium 2 Trustees 2 CEOs Toronto 1 Trustee 1 CEO Registration Costs Members or Associate Members shall be required to have paid applicable annual membership fees for 2014 to be eligible to attend and vote at the AGM of the Federation. The fee schedule is based on the municipal population served: Population Served Annual Fee Population Served Annual Fee Under 5,000 $50 50,001 – 100,000 $3,000 5,001 – 15,000 $100 100,001 – 350,000 $5,000 15,001 – 30,000 $750 350,001+ $7,500 30,001 – 50,000 $1,500 Associates $500 Invoices for 2015 membership fees were mailed to all existing Members in December 2014. Please contact Monica Mixemong at admin@fopl.ca or 416-395-5638 if you require...

CBC: Software updates, installations now require Consent New provisions part of Canada’s anti-spam law come into effect Jan. 15th 2015 From the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/software-updates-installations-now-require-consent-1.2901868 “Starting today, it’s illegal in Canada for a website to automatically install software on your computer. Your consent is now also required for updates to apps on your smartphone or tablet. The latest provision of Canada’s anti-spam law to come into effect specifies that businesses installing software or computer programs on another person’s computer over the internet must have their explicit consent — “implied” consent is not enough. There are some exemptions to the requirement, including bug fixes, operating systems cookies, HTML and Javascript. Companies must also: Clearly disclose to users if its software could collect personal information, interfere with the normal operation of a computer, alter settings or preferences or data on a computer or allow a third party to access a computer. Those who fail to comply may be fined up to $10 million.” Of course, FOPL is ahead of the curve and the CASL legal opinion for public libraries also covered this issue. To find the opinion use this link: http://fopl.ca/?p=2976 ...

Summary Statistics for Expenditures, 2001-2010 FOPL Data Report, Week 10 These reports have looked at a variety of aspects of Ontario’s public libraries and this week we will return to one which we have looked at before: expenditures. Here we take a broader look than we did earlier. Some of the expenditure figures in Table 1 were featured in the first of these Reports but the focus was only partially on to categories of library expenditures because in that report, the two measures of population we have discussed (Resident Population and Active Cardholders), and circulations were used in the analysis of which sets of libraries to use in these reports. Here we include not just the Operating and General Materials Expenditures as in Report #1, but also Electronic Materials Expenditures, Capital Expenditures, Staff Expenditures and Total Operating Revenues for our 304 libraries. The analysis of the variables included in that Report had positive news. FOPL_Report_10_Expenditures_Summary ...